OK, I have a Sony DRU-510AK 4x DVD Burner. With the latest Firmware 1.0f (let me start with a little background first) **All burns unless stated otherwise are done with the latest version of Nero6** I bought this burner back in december last year. And i burnt a DVD shortly after buying it, it was burnt on a HP 4x DVD+R without any problem. I have burnt over 100 CDRs since i bought it as well. (end background) Just recently, i tried to burn an ISO onto the dvd, on TDK DVD-R 4x blank DVD, and it started to burn the lead in and then it stopped with the error "write error" and the burn fails. The disc is also stuffed because it burnt the very first part of the lead in. I Then tried to burn about 3GBs of files, mostly fairly small sized, this was burn on the same HP blank i used at the very beggining. This failed just like the previous burn. At this point i was still able to burn normal CDRs without any problems whatsoever. I removed the drive from my machine and took it back to the place of purchase and asked them to test it for me. They tried to burn a movie DVD on a no name blank DVD+R this completed without any problems. They used the burning software that came with the burner. (Sonic Record Now i think its called) . So they gave me a blank Verbatim DVD+RW to test with when i got home. On return home i plugged everything back in and powered up, first to burn a normal CDR...works fine...then burn the same ISO onto the DVD+RW and this worked fine!!! I then erased the DVD and then tried to burn the same 3GBs of files and this also worked!! So far the first 2 failed burns, (the ISO and the files) didnt work on DVD+R or DVD-R but they did burn fine onto a Verbatim DVD+RW. At this point i was sure it was a media problem, as i no longer thought it was a computer problem i.e. not enough free space or drive to fragmented because it burnt fine onto the DVD+RW. Mind you the DVD+RW was burnt at 2.4x not like the others which were attempt to be burnt at 4x. So tried to burn the ISO from different drives with little space or lots of space...made no different...2 more dead DVDs. So i did a quick search around the net and found lots of people having similar problems, they seemed to say that it could be a media problem, so i went and got some blank Verbatim DVD-R's (which sony had recommended) i then tried to burn the ISO onto one of these DVDs at 2x and it failed just after it had written the lead in. Same thing as all the other times it failed. So as it stands the DVD burner: 1. Did once burn an image to DVD using a blank HP DVD+R 4x 2. Since then has never burnt either HP, TDK or Verbatim DVD+R's or DVD-R's without giving write errors and failing 3. Can burn anything to a Verbatim DVD+RW from any of my HDD's without error 4. Has been able to burn normal CDRs without any problems what so ever. Tech notes: The DVD burn is a slave on the 2nd IDE channel. The master on that channel is a Pioneer DVDrom Thanks. p.s. Sorry for the mega mega post
I tried it on my other computer (p3 1ghz, 512mb, windows 2k sp4) and it burns DVD+RW fine, but when i try to burn DVD-R or +R it just causes nero to stop resonding. The only way to get the machine back is to power off., and then turn it back on again. I also took it back to the place i bought it from again, so that they could give it another going over. And they plugged it into a XP machine, they were able to burn +RW , -R & +R without any problems. So it now seems that there *must* be something on my computer that is causing it to burn die each time i burn a -R or +R. At the moment the DVD burner is setup on the 2nd ide channel as a slave (the master is a pioneer DVD-ROM), the Primary IDE just has a 80gb WD HDD, and my 200gb drive is sitting off a promise ultra133 UDE controller, no i originally though that i might have been a problem that i was burning from a HDD that was on a IDE controller but it was able to burn an ISO or files from that HDD without any problems as long as its burnt onto a DVD+RW. I did how ever try to burn some stuff from a partition that was part of my primary drive (the 80gb on the primary IDE channel) and it failed just like the others so that ruled that out. Im now completely stumped as to what is causing it. I think i will try it as a Master on the 2nd IDE channel and just unplug the DVDROM for now, and try to burn some stuff from the HDD on the 1st IDE channel not the controller card ( i doubt it will make any difference tho)
We have a comperable Sony burner here at work. I assume the one you have is a USB burner? In any event; when my burner was in the shop, I borrowed the work one. I couldn't get it to work; I assumed it was because my PC at home just has USB 1.1 I brought it into work and used it on my main PC here. Same errors. As soon as I hooked it up to an XP machine, it worked like a charm. You may need to move to XP. Of course, I would talk to Sony first; 2000 is not so far out of date that it shouldn't be supported.
Sorry, just read your post that your is an IDE burner. I wonder if my experiences might shed some light still.
thanks for the reply. hehe yeah its IDE I doubt its a 2000 problem, as it originally burnt a DVD fine...once. Then i didnt try again for a few months, and ever since it will only burn on DVD+RW's Im thinking of just not using it again until i re-install windows this weekend.
The first thing I would change is the IDE position of your burner. Main OS HD on IDE primary in MASTER position. BURNER on secondary IDE in Master position. The slave equipment doesn't matter. Also check device manager and see if all drives are set to DMA not PIO. PIO used too much of your system and processor resources. See if this helps. I know setting the burner to master will help. Jerry
Well, here is the thing, i took it to my friends place last night, and put it on his winxp machine, it was on the 2nd IDE channel as a slave and it burnt a DVD-R fine. So im certain now its either my hardware or something in windows. I am now in the process of re-installing windows. So heopfull that will fix the problem.
i have a 510a burner as well and alot of the problems stem from the firmware, if you upgraded to 1.of, that could be a source of your problems. If u did upgrade, did u turn off dma before you upgraded? It can cause some probs if you didn't. There's a stack of different issues that could be causing the problems you're having, and fortunely most have already been answered/discussed in previous posts. So check through them and see if any of them work for you. If nothing works for you, then post back and I'll give you a hand. Sorry I couldn't be bothered re-writing all the fixes, but I'm a two finger typer and It'd take me forever, lol. good luck and keep us posted.
yeah i upgrade to 1.0f and it still had DMA enabled. Can you downgrade to an earlier...better version? (the problem was also happening when it was using the default 1.0d bios too) ALso i reinstalled windows over the weekend. And i was able to burn a DVD-R !!!! there must have been something alittle strange going on in my windows 2k install. Mind u as it was burning (1.3gb ISO) the read buffer went alll the way down and then the burners buffer went all the way down, but then they both came back up and the burn continued fine. But i think it is because that drive is very very badly fragemented. i assume that would cause problems?
It looks like it's just as I thought, a firmware installation problem. 1.of isn't the greatest update but u shouldn't have to change it, just reinstall it following these instructions (these are for XP, you'll have to do the equivalent in 2000): When you upgrade it you have to go to Control panel then click on system, hardware, device manager, IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers, Primary IDE channel transfer modes make sure they are PIO. Click on Secondary IDE channel and do the same reboot and install Firmware (1.0f). Now go back to Primary and Secondary IDE channels and change transfer modes back to DMA. Reboot and you should be fine. If you're still having problems after doing this than it probably isn't a firmware problem. As for the read buffers, defragmentation of your hard drive will slow your whole system down but I find buffer problems to be more related to burn speeds, others processes running, etc.
I dont see how it could have been a firmware update problem, as it was happening with the factory installed firmware (1.0D) and even after updateing the firmware nothing changed. It was just something to do with my windows install. I think the buffer underrun was actually cause by the fragmented HDD, becuase this is a fresh install of windows with nothing running in the back ground. and the computer is AMD 2700 with 1gb ram, so its not exactly under powered. Plus in the defrag analysis window it was moslty red (very very very fragmented) this is a different drive not the windows one. The fragmented drive was the one that had the ISO on it. I will try to update the firmware properly just to make sure its not gonna cause problem in the future. Thanks
Yeah, if you're drive was that fragmented and you were burning the image off that drive, that'd cause it. Sorry, mate, didn't understand u fully. Glad to see it's better now As for the firmware re-installation, if it's working now I'd just leave it alone. "If it ain't broke, don't fix it"
Yeah I was pretty sure it was gonna be cause it was really fragmented. thats cool dude Yeah now thats its working i dont think i will be touching it again...like u said. Thanks for all your help buddy
